I don't know how many people are aware, but the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver currently does NOT have any Women's Ski Jumping events (there are 3 for men), even though there are many professional women who compete in this sport. A group of women with international backing tried to sue the Vancouver olympics to have the sport added due to the sexism of this but the court rejected their lawsuit. See here.
Even though I understand the judge's ruling (basically that the International Olympic Committee, the IOC, is not bound the Canadian Charter and thus the court has no jurisdiction to order them to alter the line-up of events), I'm terribly disappointed by this. I still think the suit was worthwhile because it drew so much attention to the issue. I'm really hoping the IOC will take notice and add the events, if not to Vancouver then to the next Olympics.
I am glad however that the judge acknowledged the sexism and agreed that the events should be added, she just doesn't have the authority to order the change.
I personally don't think there should be ANY event for which only one sex competes in (unless perhaps there was simply no competitors for a specific event from a specific gender, but I'm not aware of any such event).
What do you guys think? Is there anything we can do?
Btw this is my first post so I hope I did ok...
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I agree with the sentiment. It's also messed up that there are only women's events for rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming. There should be men's and women's events for all olympic events.
There's an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed on the issue of women ski jumpers, but to many, talking about it seen the same way talking about the black and white sprinters is.
Women's twos bobsledding was at the last olympics and went without a comment, while people are questioning whether women's wrestling belongs at the summer games. What's the big difference between the two?
The quality of competition. Women's alpine skiing is as high as is the men's so no one would even question whether it should be included in the olympics, and women's bobsledding, while not as high, is improving. Women's wrestling on the other hand, has a long way to go. The question is, where is women's ski jumping in terms of the quality of competition compared to men's?
Of course, this also raises the issue of profile: the more attention a sport gets at high level events, the more athletes will take it up and the more money will go into it. Including ski jumping would no doubt attract more girls into the sport, but would bad competition (if the skill level is low) hurt more than help? Women's ice hockey was not included in the olympics until after several world Championships had been held, and the sport was the stronger for it. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent non-olympic event for skiing except for the FIS seasons and championships.
Here's an FAQ which, among other things, addresses the quality of competition: Women's Ski Jumping FAQ It's slightly out of date - the first Women's Ski Jumping World Championship concluded this past March.
There's a petition here which you can sign to show you want them to Let Women Ski Jump in 2010. There are currently almost 11,000 signatures.
Here's another good article about Women's Ski Jumping, featuring Lindsey Van, who holds the distance record on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic ski hill.
Here's an updated version of the fact sheet showing why women jumpers belong in the games: www.wsjusa.com
Click to download the pdf of the timeline and fact sheet on the homepage...
i did not know that.. we always had women ski jumpers in the olympics why is this time an exception.
its also sad that the law suit did not change this.
-faraz from cheap refurbished laptops